HARMLESS THOUGHTS

Here is a little surgery update, for those of you who are concerned about my wife . Once she feels up to it, I am sure that she will give a much better update, with all of the fun, interesting details, but for now you will have to be satisfied with my version of what happened. Charity's parents had come down a couple of days early so that we could spend some time with them before she didn't feel like having fun. So, we left for the hospital yesterday, the boys stayed home with Grandpa, and after a little while in the waiting room, we were finally ready to go, gown and all, by about 1:00. They gave her a couple of shots of the "don't worry, be happy" medicine, and by 2:30 she had left us for the operating room. She ended up only being in surgery from 2:30 to 3:30. The doctor came out and told us everything went well. She had had a tonsillectomy and a septoplasty. (Don't ask me what that second thing is.) After a couple more hours we were able to go back ...

Rodney Olsen from The Journey just posted five reasons why he blogs , and has encouraged others to share their reasons. I don't have five reasons in my head yet, so I am going to make them up as I go. In my mind, I believe that it makes me a better writer. I don't (at all) consider myself to be a writer of any sort, but I would like to be. I admire writers, good ones, and would like to improve on this area of my life. I don't know if it is actually helping, but I think it does. I still think that blogging is cool (in a geeky sort of way). I know that there are some who have stated that blogging is fading away, but I just think that it is weeding itself out. The true bloggers will remain for a little longer yet. I feel like I am talking to people when I blog. I like the idea that I am going to hit that little publish button, and then there are going to be people that read this later. Rodney called this "community" and I have to agree. There are a couple o...

I am finishing up this school year at Mauldin High School . I have been here since January 3rd, and it has been an interesting year for me. I might post on some of the things that I have learned during these days here, but that is not what I wanted to mention today. Today, you see, is Memorial Day, and here I am at school. This isn't considered a holiday by the Greenville County School District, of course the students don't have to be here, but I do. It wouldn't be so bad, if I had something to do, but I don't. I teach seniors and the seniors exams are a week earlier than anyone else. So, I gave all my exams, graded them, entered my grades, turned in all my stuff, etc., etc. last Tuesday. I haven't had anything to do here at the school since. The county has policies that require all teachers to be here, even if they don't have anything to do. So, I have been reading books, watching CNN, blogging, and I have even brought a couple of movies with me. Today,...

This is Finder. Finder is the name given to experiment 158, from the Lilo and Stitch TV series. Finder is excellent at finding things. You tell him what you want to find, and he goes and finds it. Doesn't matter what it is, just tell him, and he will track it down. ... I wish he was real.

I have a new link on the sidebar. It is a link to my Google Maps with a non-extensive list of locations that I have been to as a household mover. They are all places that I have driven my truck to at one time or another. Check it out .

My love of the Dew goes back a long time. Back when the phrase was "... Doing it country cool..." Back when it was guys in cut off jeans swinging from ropes into a lake. That is when I began to love the Dew. It has transitioned over the years, of course. Sometimes I loved the Dew because of its flavor. Then I went through a spell when it was all about me, and I drank the Dew because it helped me get through the tough spots, the 2nd and 3rd shift jobs, and I needed that boost to finish loading that truck. But then when I hit 30 the Dew turned on me. I couldn't take all of that sugar all of the time, so I switched to The Dew's Sister, The Diet Dew. I still drink it on a daily basis. Sometimes I drink Diet Coke or Diet Dr. Pepper, but I always come back to the Dew. It has been a friend, a comforter, a pick me up, and even a gift when I left one of the schools I worked at (those kids really knew me). Thanks Mountain Dew.

I am currently reading The Hobbit to my boys. This (though it shows my geeky side) will make the third time that I have read that book. It is really a great story, I suppose that is why it has become as popular as it has. And The Hobbit, especially is written in such a way that my boys can easily follow along with interest. I think that the other Tolkien books might be a little much for them, but this one is right up their alley. They ask me every night if I would read more to them, and even my younger one knows what is going on. The other day I came home and they had drawn me a couple of pictures with dwarves and a hobbit and a wizard named Gandalf. They are loving this story, and that makes me happy. I really enjoy the bonding time that I am having with them. Sam on the top bunk, Jo on the bottom bunk, Milo at my feet, and I am good to go. It is a great way to end the day, especially after I have been around kids who have no desire to listen. Sam's Picture Jo...

Occurrence 226 on this blog , came from the movie, V for Vendetta . In that movie, there are two 27 occurrences. The first comes from an inspector who says that he has been "...a party member for 27 years." Then later a newscaster states, "...a new airborne pathogen that has killed 27 people."

Here is a picture of Saturn (again). Sorry, I know that you may not care for pictures of Saturn, but I am always amazed at these images that they are taking. This one was taken by the Cassini-Huygens mission , which I believe is now simply called the Cassini Mission, because the Cassini probe is all that is left. The Huygens probe actually landed on the surface of Titan, one of Saturn's moons. (Which blows my mind.) I actually posted a picture that was taken from the surface of Titan around the time that it landed. This image is called Crescent Rhea Occults Crescent Saturn , in case you were wondering... I have added the Image of the Day Gallery to my Google Reader , and I would like to recommend it.

This is the post that I have to write before I can get back to blogging. It is not going to be an eloquent post; I just have some things that I need to say before I can get back to the blog world. It might be a little long, I am not sure yet, I just sat down to type it. So, bear with me, if you like. This last year has been a hard year. I have had other hard years in my life, none of which I have discussed on my blog. In fact, I started this blog at the beginning of one of those tough years, but I am not discussing those years now. I need to talk about this year. It all started around Christmas of 2005. I had decided to leave my job at Shannon Forest Christian School (for reasons that I will not discuss right now, because they have little to do with this post), and I was now in the market for a new job. I began the job search, the first of many job searches, and was coming up short. I almost went to another Christian School, but decided against it at the last minute. I even ...